Janine Rankin16:01, Jun 01 2021 Murray Wilson/Stuff Massey University Foundation wants help to establish a botanic garden to dwarf Bledisloe Park. The Massey University Foundation has pitched an ambitious botanic garden plan to the Palmerston North City Council, asking ratepayers for a cool $300,000 in seeding money. Foundation director Mitch Murdoch led a presentation to the council’s long-term plan hearing, describing the proposed botanic garden as the first of its kind in New Zealand. It would stretch from the Urban Eels platform where the Turitea Stream flowed into the Manawatū River, include a pathway link along the restored stream edge, encompass Dairy Farm 1 up to the Fitzherbert Bridge, and extend to the existing Massey arboretum and Bledisloe Park.